"Christ would not vote for
Barack Obama because Barack Obama has voted to
behave in a way that it is inconceivable for
Christ to have behaved."

~ Republican U.S. Senate candidate
Alan Keyes, September 7, as quoted in
today's Chicago Tribune, referring
to Barack Obama's support of infanticide
when he voted against the Born Alive Infants
Protection Act

WASHINGTON,
D.C. -- In an attempt to pull the power plug on the states’
ability to implement President Bush’s New Freedom Commission
recommendations, Republican Congressman Ron Paul
[Texas] is expected to offer an amendment that will prohibit funding
for the creation or implementation of any new universal mental
health screening programs to the Labor/Health and Human
Services/Education appropriations bill, scheduled to be debated
on the house floor today and Thursday.

Conservatives and medical professionals have been alarmed at the
unprecedented governmental intrusion of the NFC on mental health and
what is perceived as pharmaceutical mining of America’s school
children.

Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America, the
Alliance for Human Research Protection, the International
Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, and the
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons are all
lining up to support an amendment that will pull funding for mental
health screening and preserve parental rights.

According to Vera Hassner Sharav of the Alliance for Human
Research Protection, “There are no reliable, scientifically valid
diagnostic tools for uncovering hidden mental illness, nor any
effective preventive interventions. This will only produce false
positives.”

Sharav extended an additional warning to Illinois women,
where plans are to mandatorily screen all pregnant mothers. “How
much more intrusive can the government get than to reach into a
mother’s womb?” asked Sharav.

Sharav also warned that screening will increase the number of
persons “diagnosed” with a mental illness, thereby increasing the
“already skyrocketing use of psychotropic drugs.”

The aforementioned groups are encouraging their members to
contact their congressmen to vote for Paul’s amendment. Texans
for Safe Education and Ablechild have also joined efforts
and launched a petition drive
[http://www.ablechild.org/declaration%20of%20refusal.aspx] in
response to the NFC screening recommendations, with a goal to send
thousands of signatures to Washington.

The declaration states in part: “We, the undersigned, solemnly
declare that we will not allow our children to be the subjects of
any form of implementation of New Freedom Commission recommendations
to screen our children for signs of ‘mental illness’…. Appropriate
services in today's psychiatric world means psychotropic drugs, and
there are already an estimated nine million school-age children on
psychiatric drugs. We consider this to represent a tragic situation
and a clear and present danger to our children.”

Meanwhile here in Illinois, legislators are shaking their heads
over the potential ramifications of Illinois' recently passed
Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003, which would implement
the NFC recommendations.

State Senator Chris Lauzen [R-Aurora] said, “If
there has been an error, I want to be a part of repairing that
error. I’d be happy to cosponsor legislation substantially modifying
or even repealing the Act after people who are a lot more expert
than I am help us sort through this.”